Entries from Mexico
Posted by: Walter Hailes, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 17,340'
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Todos han cumbreado (everybody summited)! The group was a bit apprehensive last night as the clouds were dancing in and around camp, but we woke up at 1am to mostly clear skies and made our bid for the top of Ixtaccihuatl in 6mph, -4C weather - doesn’t get much better than that. The sun rose right as we began our final ascent stretch, shedding dramatic light on the Martian like landscape with Popocateptl puffing volcanic smoke in the background. We all celebrated on top under the sun and above a thick undercast. Upon return to high camp we swiftly packed up and made our way back down in a graupel storm before reaching our van, celebrating (again) over beers and sandwiches, and making the drive to our hot showers and warm food in Puebla.
Tired and happy,
RMI Guides Jessie, Walter & the team
On The Map
Posted by: Walter Hailes, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 15,000'
Hola, we are checking in from above the marine layer here at about 15,000ft, just below the Refugio de los Cien on the Southern flank of Ixta. We woke up early this morning and after a breakfast of champions slowly but steadily logged the vertical feet from our Altzomoni hut up to here. The day started hot, sunny, and steep, but everyone just kept their nose to the grindstone. Light clouds rolled in around noon though and cooled the air and our efforts, until we reached our final steep ascent to the base of the very aptly named Arista del Sol ridge. We set up camp which now looks like our little village above the clouds, chatted summit day over a spicy alpine dinner, and are back in our sleeping bags ready for our early start tomorrow. Folks are feeling good and excited to get up high!
RMI Guides Walter Hailes, Jessie Poquerusse and the team
On The Map
Posted by: Walter Hailes, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 12,000'
Checking in here from about 12,000ft at the Altzimoni hut. Today we traveled from La Malinche via the windy Paso de Cortez up to our new hut, stopping on the way for a big egg-based brunch with an interesting mix of exotic local ingredients and our home staples. We met our local Mexican guide and porters in Paso de Cortez and are happy to have their local knowledge and support. Tonight we’ll start reviewing camp set up procedures and check gear on the sunny terrace of our hut, then enjoy a large dinner before we head to our high camp tomorrow. The sun has been shining all day, with only sparse clouds starting to form a crown on Popocapetl and Ixta. Our high camp is barely visible among the clouds forming at the start of the Arista del Sol ridge. Everyone is doing very well with the altitude, looking strong, and in very good spirits!
RMI Guide Jessie Poquerusse
On The Map
Looking great! Good luck tomorrow!!!
Posted by: Mende Potkay on 1/22/2018 at 2:44 pm
Posted by: Walter Hailes, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 10,000'
Sunday, January 21, 2018 - 7:03 pm PT
Hello from day two on the slopes of our first volcano, La Malinche! Today we made our way to the Malintzi resort at a little over 10,000ft. We wasted no time and immediately headed uphill and hiked up to the ridge heading to the top, at about 13,700ft - not bad for our first day. We were rewarded with a panoramic view of our upcoming objectives, Ixta and Pico de Orizaba, poking up through a layer of clouds. We all returned dusty and ready to shower and eat.
RMI Guides Jessie Poquerusse, Walter Hailes & the team
On The Map
Posted by: Walter Hailes, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 7,300'
Saturday, January 20, 2018 - 8:45 pm PT
Checking in here from day one of our Mexican adventure! The mood was very well set as the group met and shared introductions interluded by frequent laughter under the majestic arches of our hotel in the vibrant Zona Rosa of Mexico City. What an interesting group with lots in common in addition to our passion for mountains. After our fun round of intros and a quick overview of our itinerary, we had our first sample of the country’s cuisine over mostly traditional dinner dishes before hitting the hay early. We hope to be rested in order to be ready for our day of travel and first acclimatization hike tomorrow up on the slopes of the much colder and higher La Malinche.
Buenas noches,
RMI Guides Jessie Poquerusse, Walter Hailes & the Mexico crew
Have the best time. Can’t wait to read about your adventures!
Posted by: Dana Coletti on 1/22/2018 at 8:43 am
Be safe! Enjoy!!!!
Posted by: Cindy Lloyd on 1/22/2018 at 7:16 am
Update: November 11th, 2:00 pm PT
Buenas Tardes! Our team has safely returned down to Tlachichuca after our climb of Orizaba this morning. It was a beautiful day and a great climb, made even more so by the fact that we were the only people on the entire mountain! What a treat.
Now back in the valley below, we are doing the old duffle shuffle and getting ready to celebrate with a hard earned dinner. Tomorrow we will part ways, but our time in Mexico has been a fantastic adventure.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Transcription of call from the Orizaba summit:
Hello. This is Jake on top of Pico de Orizaba with the crew. We are doing great. We had a beautiful, could not ask for a better style day, today. The winds are light, the sun is out, and we're going to reverse our path and start heading down soon. It was a great climb, everybody did well, and we'll be in touch from the lowlands. Alright everybody take care.
RMI Guide Jake Beren calls in from the Pico de Orizaba summit.
On The Map
Posted by: Jake Beren
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Our travels so far have been action packed and the team enjoyed a relaxing rest/exploration day yesterday. The colonial city of Puebla is a beautiful place to see the sights and we did a little sleeping in before taking it to the streets. Puebla is a city that certainly felt the effects of the recent earthquake and as you walk around town, you can see folks tending to the damage, repairing walls and buildings. It is remarkable that the damage was not more widespread, but we are all happy to see that the beautiful town of Puebla has survived.
Now we are off to Orizaba! Tonight we will stay in the Piedra Grande hut and begin our climb early tomorrow morning. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Despite a very blustery morning, we had a great time climbing on Ixta today. We moved through the night under a waning gibbous moon and caught the sunrise from 17,000' above sea level! The team climbed well, making wise decisions, on a windy day to the cumbre (summit) of Ixta! Now we are relaxing in a hotel in Puebla, enjoying significantly less wind, before heading out to celebrate over dinner. Tomorrow we will rest and relax, getting ready for the big one -Pico de Orizaba on Friday.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Buenas noches from our High Camp on Ixta where we are tucked in for the night. The team did great moving up today and with any luck we will be calling from the cumbre. So all is well here. This is Jake and the Mexico crew signing off for the night. Adios
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
This morning we pulled stakes after a great night’s sleep in La Malintzi and made our way toward Ixta. Along the way we explored the little town of Amecameca, registered with the park and double checked our equipment for the climb. Tomorrow we will head uphill, establishing our high camp on Ixta. The team is doing great and after our afternoon walk, we plan to feast and do our best to duplicate last nights slumber in our new home at 13k!
Tomorrow we ride...
RMI Jake Beren and Team
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Love reading these updates! This adventure sounds amazing! Keep up the hard work!
Posted by: Mende Potkay on 1/24/2018 at 1:44 pm
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